10 top excuses people use to avoid exercise—part 4

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Being healthy for retirement means getting healthy before retirement. In this 7-part series, health researcher and exercise guru Darren Morton talks about the top 10 excuses people use to not exercise.

4. I have too many stressful things going on to exercise

At times, life throws stressful events at us that can derail our resolve and it’s one of the most common obstacles to more active living.

Yet even in our most stressful periods, it’s a good idea to prioritise being physically active as it can help keep us sane. I have a friend who is the principal of a large high school with no shortage of challenges and stresses. He claims that as his stress levels increase, so too does the length of his daily walk.

Physical activity is one of the best things we can do to manage stress. So, the busier and more stressful life becomes for you, the more important it is that you keep physically active. It can be your lifeline.

5. I don’t know what to do

The notion of exercising for the sake of exercising is a relatively new thing. Going back only a century or so, we didn’t need to be intentional about moving our bodies because our daily living demanded it.

It’s only because our days are commonly filled with inactivity that we need to be purposeful about taking the time to exercise. Remember, we are designed to be active and things go wrong if we aren’t.

Unfortunately, the concept of ‘exercise’ has been made so complicated that it’s little wonder that people are puzzled about what to do. Then it’s further complicated with the information we get bombarded with about the latest exercise gimmicks that say you only have to do something for ‘three minutes a week to achieve rock-hard abs’ or specialised zones in which you need to set your heart rate to burn fat.

Here’s where to start. Say to yourself: ‘I need to be active. I can be active. I deserve to be active and enjoy the benefits.’

Start simply. Walk, perhaps. Wash the cobwebs off your bike. Find people you can exercise with. Tennis, anyone? What sports have you played that you enjoyed? Some enjoy the challenge of the gym. Others hate it. Find what works for you.

Say it again: ‘I need to be active. I can be active. I deserve to be active and enjoy the benefits.’

Now push yourself out of your chair and move for 10 minutes—and you’ve started.

A fascinating experiment found that retirees who were encouraged to envisage their retirement wanted to save 31% more of their pay for retirement than those who hadn’t imagined theirs. Visualising can have an impact because it imagines a future possibility. By imagining it, we’re more prepared to make it happen.

In theory, the Age Pension age is set as the minimum age at which a typical senior is considered no longer able to work enough hours to generate the income needed for a modest standard of living. However, this doesn’t mean that you can’t work.

After taking the previous steps to this point, it’s now time to enjoy the harvest and to celebrate. What you’ve planted and nurtured on the inside, should now begin to produce a harvest on the outside.

The YourLifeChoices Retirement Affordability Index aims to help you understand how much money you currently need to live at various levels and lifestyles in retirement. In this issue, there’s a helpful discussion about how to make your Superannuation go further.

You are no doubt aware they exist. You may have seen them on foodie blogs, Instagram feeds or on the menu at your local café. Wholegrains are an important food group essential to a healthy diet. Read on to find out why they are so wonderful and how you can eat more!